Food molds have been used and are well known in the prior art. A common baking pan is a food mold, with an open end, a closed end and a peripheral side wall. The closed end and side wall define a hollow volume that becomes the three-dimensional shape of a food product molded by the baking pan.
Some food pans, such as a baking pan for making angel food cake, have an annular ring shaped with an open end. The hollow volume of the ring is filled with a food composition and then baked. After baking, the pan is inverted to remove the shaped food composition from the open end. Thus, the open end is used to form the bottom of the final food product.
Other food molds have a centrally located indentation at the closed end. With a mold of this type, a first food composition may be placed and formed in the open end and a second food composition may be placed in the complementary shaped indentation at the closed end. This provides an accurate fit for the second filler food composition within the first supporting food composition.
In all baking pans, it is desirable to facilitate the partial escape of moisture from these apparatuses in order to develop a degree of porosity in the final baked product. At the same time, however, the batter must absorb some moisture to prevent excessive dehydration. It therefore becomes necessary to contain the batter at a pressure sufficient to limit the extent to which water is converted to steam, since the batter absorbs steam less easily than water, while allowing for a degree of conversion and escape. The batter must also be contained to prevent the escape of the cake itself due to its expansion during baking.
It can thus be seen that a number of devices have been used in the molding and baking of desserts to obtain molded desserts in a variety of shaped configurations as described in the prior art. However covered dual domed desserts are rare because of the complexity in preparing same. While cakes are commonly referred to in the literature as being domed, in effect this is an occurrence which comes about as the batter expands during baking and does not equate to a hemispherical or semispherical shaped cake.
Historically, it was known in the prior art to bake bread bowls which were semi-spherical loaves of bread into which a cavity was carved for placement of salads or soups. A conventional bread bowl is typically made by forming raw bread dough on the top of a simple inverted bowl which is then placed into the oven for baking. Bread bowls made in this manner often rise from the inverted bowl so that the same presents an uneven appearance, requiring trimming and waste.
Many prior art devices and techniques mold and bake dough of breads, batters of cakes, cookies, and other baked goods into various shapes including containers which may be used to hold other foods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,323, issued Mar. 14, 1989, discloses a method for molding and baking cookie dough into a cup shape which can then be used to hold ice cream or other fillings in a similar manner to U.S. Pat. No. 3,296,956, issued Jan. 10, 1967, which also discloses a molding and baking apparatus for the baking of bread dough into a cup-like shape. U.S. Pat. No. 1,487,906, issued Mar. 25, 1924, discloses a pan for baking cake batter into a container shape for holding ice cream.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,400 issued Jul. 21, 1964 a telescoping cake apparatus is disclosed with a center cone assembly which moves upward when the cake batter is baked forming a frustrum conical cake with a conical center cavity. A one piece strip cross link handle is secured to the upper edge of top of the expendable baking section and the cone by staples or the like.
A baked layered product with an apparatus for making same is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,507, issued Aug. 27, 1974. This baking assembly uses three baking pans to form a cylindrical bunt bowl body and lid which is placed over the body to hold the filling therein.
Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 1,852,966 issued Apr. 5, 1932 is directed toward a baking pan used for baking a cake with a hollow center so that the same can have a filling placed therein. A tapered tubular outer member has a core mold mounted thereon attached to a cover over the top of the tubular outer member.
The use of nested trays for forming shaped multiple individual baked goods is typified by the common muffin tray. Stacked or nesting trays for forming shaped baked goods such as bread are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,609 issued Aug. 3, 1993.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,313, issued Sep. 7, 1999 is directed toward a mold assembly for making a baked edible shell. The mold assembly is constructed of an outer mold shell and an associated inner mold shell, the outer mold shell having a curved main portion with a central opening and an outer rim extending in a plane. The inner mold shell has a curved main portion with a central chimney shaped to pass through the outer mold central opening. The outer mold opening comprises a raised circular rim with an inwardly directed flange. The outer edge of the outer mold shell is formed with a rolled-up rim. When the edible material is being cooked, a metal strip with curved ends is mounted over the rolled rim of the outer shell mold as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5C to hold both mold-shells in relative positions to eliminate expansion of the edible material during cooking.
Another reference, U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,352 issued Jul. 13, 1993 is directed toward a baking assembly which has an outer dome shaped member and an inner dome shaped member as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. A flange extends outward from the upper edge of the outer dome member to seat the flange extending from the upper edge of the inner dome member. The flanges are held together by a C clamp or other fastening means. The inner dome shaped member is TEFLON® coated on its inside surface and outside surface allowing cake or dough to be baked in the outer dome mold and the inner mold.
Hemispherical shaped or dome cakes having dual composition are popular in Italian dessert cooking and are generally known as “Zuccotto”. These cakes are prepared by slicing previously baked sponge cake (Pan di Spagna) into thin, vertical slices, lining the interior of a bowl with plastic wrap and lining the plastic wrap in the bowl with overlapping pieces of the sponge cake slices. The slices of cake are then sprinkled with liquor and the dampened assembly is then covered with a plastic wrap and refrigerated. A center mixture of chocolate or other filling is poured into the cake lined bowl and the bottom or exposed surface of the filling is covered with other slices of cake. The entire cake is allowed to set for a number of hours, preferably overnight, inverted onto a platter and dusted with confectioners sugar. As can be seen, the process for making this cake is quite laborious in time and resources required. It has been found desirable to mold or form desserts or cake into a layered hemispherical or semi-spherical dome shape which can be baked and/or frozen and marketed as a specialized cake shape similar to that of the Italian “Zuccotto” cakes as the same make an elegant presentation.
The present invention also solves the complex construction problems in assembling multiple domed cakes or desserts suitable for individual servings through the use of a tray assembly which orients and seats the bowls of each tray in a concentric relationship with each other.